Chapter 409
Chapter 409: Passion and Progress
I was going to dive into the main story, but then I remembered I forgot about Enma, so I decided to write an interlude with Enma and Claire.
――――――――――――――――――
――Deep beneath the Demon Lord Castle, in a place untouched by sunlight, lies the palace of the Undead King.
“Look, look! This!!! It’s finally complete!!!”
In a key conference room of utmost importance.
Standing there is a translucent soul girl, and in front of her is a suspicious woman dramatically unveiling a covered object…
“Wooow, I wonder what it is—how exciting!”
The spirit girl, Claire, claps her hands (the vibrations of magical energy, since she has no physical form) in a monotone voice.
The woman gleefully bouncing around is Enma, the Undead King and Claire’s superior and master.
“Hoohoo… then let’s do the unveiling♪”
Grinning widely, Enma dramatically tosses away the cloth—
“…!?”
Despite having no physical form, Claire instinctively jolted in surprise.
Because there stood the Demon Lord’s Prince, Zilbagias Reiju!!
With a noble and dignified expression, dressed in a tribal-style noble outfit, Zilbagias gazes straight ahead. —However, those gem-like red eyes stare into the void, and he remains utterly motionless, not even breathing.
“Ta-da! A 1:1 scale, perfect Zil-kun body!!!”
Enma claps her hands and hops around excitedly.
“Wow… that’s amazing. For a moment, I thought it was the real Zilbagias!”
Claire gazes intently at the body—her words aren’t flattery; there’s no exaggeration in her praise. Even knowing Zilbagias is banished to the allied territories, the sheer quality of that body is shocking to Claire.
“Of course! It’s no exaggeration to say this is my magnum opus! The culmination of everything!”
“Is it really that impressive?”
“Yup! The reproduction rate of the appearance is beyond comparison. From the eyelashes to the fingertips, it’s been recreated as closely as possible! Since it’s the body Zil-kun will first inhabit, I’ve focused on making it feel just like when he was alive. Plus, I pursued the utmost feasible physical strength and created a new type of artificial muscle, enhancing the output significantly! I also equipped it with a top-tier magical energy reservoir, allowing long hours of activity even far from ley lines! Well, Zil-kun has a demon contract, so that might not matter too much though!”
Enma explains proudly with a smug face. Then she exclaims, “Oh, let’s give it a try!” and promptly slumps down onto the chair like a puppet with its strings cut.
“Now,”
Immediately, the adjacent Zil-kun body activates. In an instant, Enma possesses it and stands as Zilbagias.
“Enma… my beloved princess. I love you☆”
Zilbagias (as Enma) strikes a cheesy pose and makes a handsome face. But soon, that expression crumbles into a goofy grin as she bounces and asks, “Hey, how was that!? Did it look like him!? Did it!?”
The visual and voice are a perfect recreation of Zilbagias, yet the disparity in behaviors is extreme.
“Hmm, it’s almost like the real thing…!”
Claire nods seriously. It’s exceptionally difficult to control emotions when you’re a soul, making it hard to manage expressions.
“Your master should just become Prince Zilbagias, right???”
“Ah ha! That would be wonderful! But the biggest downside is, if I become Zil-kun, then I can’t see him anymore!”
“Just surround the room with mirrors.”
“Well… umm… that’s a problem too…”
Enma opens a small portal to the spirit realm, sending a command through it. Shortly after, low-ranked undead servants appear carrying mirrors.
“Oh wow! It’s Zil-kun!!!”
Seeing herself in the mirror, Enma’s face crumbles into a silly grin, and her excitement skyrockets—
“But Zil-kun doesn’t have such a creepy face!!!”
She abruptly punches the mirror, shattering it.
“……”
“So, you see. When I control it, it tends to turn out like this.”
“Well… couldn’t you just fix the expression…?”
“Actually, it’s designed to reflect the soul’s expression directly. This is one of the major breakthroughs—unlike our previous bodies, there’s no need to prepare expressions in advance!”
“Really…!!”
Claire is astonished. Has the issue of expression muscle control in Enma’s style bodies been solved?
“I told you! I’m going to the extremes to ensure that the body feels just like when Zil-kun was alive!”
Enma wags a finger. Meaning that smug expression is just Enma’s natural face, as was the goofy expression she just showed.
“That’s… incredible technology. To be honest, I’d like to use it too.”
“If you ever get the chance to come back here, I’ll swap out your body. That function would be useful if you’re lurking among the living.”
“Yes… that’s right…”
“Or should I send a new body to Evaroti? I could send it along with the supplies going there next time.”
“Ah, that would be very helpful. What should we do with the old one?”
“I’ll send it in a coffin, so you can just switch it out and send it back.”
“Then that’s what we’ll do. Thank you, master.”
“Hehe, since I’ve improved this technology, we should use it to the max!”
Enma’s smug expression is unending.
“Then let’s swap out your master’s body for that expression system too. Prince Zilbagias might just be surprised by your natural expressions!”
“N-no… What should I do about that…”
Suddenly bashful, Enma (as Zilbagias) starts fidgeting with her hand on her cheek.
“Without controlling the expression, it might end up… well, it’s more comfortable that way, you know? Because, in front of Zil-kun, I might show a face I don’t want him to see… if he saw a face like earlier, I’d be embarrassed…! He might think I’m a creep…”
“Ah—…”
I can see that happening, Claire thought.
“Hey, deny that!”
“No, it’s not that. I was just considering whether to deny it or not. And after careful consideration, I came to the conclusion that I can’t deny it.”
“Ugh!”
With a sharp flick of dark magic, Enma lightly taps Claire on the head. It doesn’t hurt. If she were serious, it would become a whip that could crush souls.
“Anyway, so that’s the situation.”
“Is there any other special functions? You called it a magnum opus.”
“No, I haven’t included transformation functions. I’m pursuing reproduction and theoretical values with this body, you see. I could have added weapons, but it would feel strange…”
“Ah, well, it’s hard to settle until you get used to it…”
“If it’s for combat, it’s better to specialize for that purpose. After all, I’ll start making one from scratch once I hear Zil-kun’s wishes.”
Enma shrugs casually.
“Oh, and by the way, the horns are interchangeable!”
Out of nowhere, Enma removes a horn from the side of her head, and Claire nearly bursts out laughing despite being a spirit.
“What kind of pointless function is that?!”
“It’s not pointless! You see, Zil-kun is a demon, so he might have preferences about horns. This body is based on human bones and demon bones, but he might not want other people’s bones—I’ve got dragon horns, magic beast horns, stone-cut versions, birch wood ones, and various options prepared. But the wooden ones were too fragile… What do you think?”
“W-well… I don’t really understand much about demons…”
Especially considering that weirdo prince… he might actually prefer something wooden.
“By the way, is the prince doing okay?”
“Is he okay?”
For a moment, Enma closes her eyes, then shouts, “He’s still alive!” and starts flailing around in place childishly.
“No response from the summoning device! But there’s also the possibility that he’s completely lost his soul to the Holy Church, which makes me anxious~~! Oh please, Zil-kun, if you’re going to die, die without being exposed to holy attributes as much as possible~~!”
Since she’s still in the Zilbagias body, Enma’s true expression comes out, making it quite an eyesore.
“Master, you’re making expressions that the prince would never make.”
“Oops, my bad.”
Regaining her composure, Enma elegantly sits back down and strikes a pose.
—Then, she freezes completely.
“Ah ha♪”
Next to her, Enma’s (the real one) body restarts, and she gazes at the seated Zilbagias with a nauseatingly enthusiastic voice.
“Zil-kun is just so cool! You’re the best!!!”
With a suspiciously ecstatic expression, she flails her hands around, enjoying Zilbagias’s visage up close.
“Meh~~…”
Her lips pucker, and she leans in closer—
“Ah! That was close, I almost kissed him! I was about to turn into a creepy person!”
—But Claire wasn’t so reckless to say, “You’re already pretty creepy,” maintaining a serious expression.
“Sigh… I can’t wait for the day to welcome Zil-kun’s soul into this body…”
Her face retains a dubious smile, but Enma sighs dreamily.
“The appearance is stunning, but what’s truly wonderful is the mindset behind it! I could prepare hundreds of bodies, but Zil-kun’s soul is irreplaceable! So I’m begging you… Zil-kun…”
Though normally claiming she doesn’t believe in gods, at this moment, Enma prays as if she were a priestess.
“Please just die… safely…!!!”
—Claire thought that the prince really has it rough.
Shifting her gaze to the wall clock.
“I’m sorry, master, but the meeting is about to start over there…”
“Oh, is that so? Claire, you’ve got it tough too! I’ll have the new body ready by next week…”
“Thank you.”
Bowing lightly, Claire phase-shifts as a spirit.
“Are you okay with the current body? Any functions you want added?”
“Well…”
Claire hesitates for a moment, then decides to make a desperate request.
“Since I need to pretend to eat and drink with the living over there… could we add taste as a function?”
—Enma stopped dead in her tracks.
“Oh noooooo! I forgot about taste and smell!”
She collapses onto the floor and starts floundering around like a fish out of water.
“I forgot! That’s right, the living have taste and smell!!! What kind of ‘Perfect Zil-kun Body’ is this?! There’s nothing perfect about it!! Wahhhh!!”
Afterward, Enma stood up with a serious expression and began muttering, “But how do I recreate taste… should I research the tongue? How does it relate to the vocal organ’s functions…? Do I have any samples…?”
“I’m sorry, master, I just thought of it, so it’s not like I expected you to do it…”
“No! This is vital research for Zil-kun! Besides, if we can reproduce taste and smell, it benefits us too! Also, I’ve been stuck on researching sunlight resistance… maybe I’ll work on that too! Anyway, I’ll work on the body that only has the expression function as soon as possible! Thank you for the insight, Claire!!”
“D-don’t mention it…”
With that, Claire floated away from the spirit world, heading back to Evaroti.
“Ahh…”
She possessed the body resting in bed and sat up. Then, she tapped the skull emitting a blue magical light on the side table—her simple summoning device—to turn it off.
“I’m back, Alexander.”
A nickname she jokingly gave to her summoning undead.
“Master isn’t a bad person, really…”
Muttering to herself, she glanced out the window. It was already dark. Even after Diagias became the governor, Evaroti continued to prosper as the only city of humans and beastmen in the Demon Lord Kingdom.
—And today was the day of the drinking party.
Including Tafuman, it would serve as a social gathering with the prominent figures of the Autonomous District.
“Are Yavka and the others coming today? Ugh, I don’t want to.”
Changing into her party clothes, she checked herself in the mirror to make sure everything was fine.
“Smile 1, smile 2, smile 3, smile 4…”
She quickly switched expressions: a soft smile, a mischievous grin, a condescending smirk, a smug smile—
“Is my stomach in place? Yep, no issues…”
She took a sip of water, checking to see if it would leak out.
“…Let’s go.”
Slipping on a small bag for valuables, Claire exited her room.
Unless controlled, her expression remained flat, but—
There was a lightness in her step.
